'48 8N no full power

Refueled the next day and it would turn but not start. After a couple days of this it stopped turning all together.

I examine the coil and it looks and smells real bad. Inside of distributor cap and condenser is also covered in this sticky tar-like residue.

Replaced coil, points, plugs, and condenser. The plug wires are recent so I haven’t replaced those yet. Cleaned sediment bowl. Good flow of fuel at carb, as one of my first suspicions was that I stirred some gas tank crud up when I ran out.

Battery charged, and a little tinkering and viola it starts – but it only runs on full choke at first. I massage the carb adjustments and slowly get her to run with choke off. It’s been running for about 20 minutes at this point. It’ll miss and backfire most of the time. It doesn’t purr, it kinda gargles.

I go to try her out and absolutely no pulling power whatsoever. I go to raise the 5’ bushhog and it practically dies. A slow, slow start to the yard. Almost dies again on a sharp turn.

My buddy, the mechanic, is helping me with this problem. As is usually the case his valuable time is limited so I want to try and think of any possible remedy for him to consider while he’s here (Friday evening). So far I have:

Carb adjustment?
Correct gap on points?
Correct gap on plugs?
Timing?
Distributor off 180° (just a thought)?
Governor/carb linkage?
Fuel line?

I just got this tractor in April and have only really had 1 month of solid use on it. I realize that a machine that’s 50+ years old will have it’s fits – that’s just part of the fun I guess. Reading though several hundred posts, I can tell that no two of these babies are alike (any more, at least), and while symptoms may be identical, the cause or fix will most likely be different per machine.

I just wanna get my girl up and running before my wife turns me out for buying a “heap of s**t” (as it’s now lovingly being called by her) – and I know y’all can certainly appreciate that!

Thanks in advance for your assistance,

Mike

New ignition points are known to slip gap, check them (0.015)
New hotter range sparkies (Autolite AL-437 recommended) always check gap right outta box (0.025)

Its really HARD to install the frontmount distributor 180 outta time because the distributor is driven by an "offset cam". Altho some hamn-handed mechanics have managed to install incorrectly by jackscrewing the distributor into place and CRACKING the distributor base. (necessitating a new $200 distributor lesson)

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While I see that you replaced all those items, if you weren't 110% sure you were actually out of gas, this may help you decide whether to look toward electrical problems or fuel problems. You mentioned good flow at the carb even before tinkering with the adjustments and such. Just seems like maybe it's still an electrical issue unless you're absolutely sure it was out of gas. Perhaps it quitting was just a coincidence with a low fuel level.

When my 9N/2N acted like that, I replaced points, condenser, coil, AND my resistor and voila... I was ready to roll. Mine did similar... would run as you describe and then eventually didn't start at all. My coil never leaked though.

You mentioned distributor on 180 out. Mine is a front mount on a 9N/2N and I have read where someone has had it on 180 out but I would guess that it wouldn't be ALL flush on the block. I think they mentioned theirs wobbled a little.

Someone here... maybe Rob... posted an electrical test to do to find out if points and such were acting correctly - I believe without powering up the engine. Might be in the archives.

-shaun